How to heal our history

in the immediate wake of the 1921

tulsa race massacre two friends

exchanged letters

a fellow named curtis in detroit wrote

to his dear friend in tulsa

oliver oliver replied

dear oliver i am

by our local newspaper fully advised of

the whole

terrible tragedy there now that they

have destroyed your homes

wrecked your schools reduced your

business places to ashes

and killed your people i’m sure that you

would rapidly

give up the town and move north

and closed please find a draft for forty

dollars to purchase your ticket to

detroit

we’ll be expecting you curtis

dear curtis how kind of you to volunteer

your

sympathetic assistance it is just like

you to be helpful to others in times of

stress like this

true it is we are facing a terrible

situation

it is equally true that they have

destroyed our homes they have

wrecked our schools and they have

reduced our churches to

ashes and they have murdered our people

curtis but they have not touched

our spirit and while i’ll speak

only for myself let it be said

that i came here and built my fortune

with that spirit

i shall reconstruct it here with that

spirit

and i expect to live on and die here

with it

oliver how do we bind the wounds of our

historical racial trauma how do we

heal our history our often hidden

history

excluded from dialogue discussion and

debate

excluded from curricular materials

now i’ve studied written about and

lectured on

tulsa’s historic greenwood district for

well over two decades now

and i’ve come to believe that there’s a

three-part process

that will lead our community and

communities all across the land

that have experienced historical racial

trauma farther along the road to

reconciliation

that process involves acknowledgement

apology and atonement

acknowledgement that first prong it

really means

confronting our history

now if we look at the black community in

tulsa known as the greenwood district

later dub black wall street for its

incredible economic

and entrepreneurial prowess we can see

that it began in 1906

a fellow named o.w gurley a wealthy

businessman from arkansas

migrated to oklahoma in the land run in

he wound up in tulsa bought land

used some of the land for his own

businesses which included a grocery

store

and a hotel sold other parcels of that

land

in the greenwood district to other

african americans

after gurley established a grocery store

in 1906 businesses proliferated

in the greenwood district there were

beauty salons and barber shops

pool halls dance halls rooming houses

garages confectionaries

there were all manner of businesses

including pharmacies

clothiers haberdasheries and on

and on and on this was essentially a

black main street

these were small business enterprises

and service providers like doctors

lawyers dentists accountants

to give you an example of the

sophistication of the business people in

the greenwood community

let me tell you about two individuals

one is simon berry

simon berry owned and operated a jitney

service a jet is like a taxicab

so he had a model t ford and for a

nickel a ride

he would shuttle people anywhere around

in the greenwood district that they

wanted to go and he made a lot of money

doing that

he saw the need for a greater

transportation service so he started a

bus

line so successful it was that was

bought from him

by the city of tulsa simon barry was

also a pilot

so he started a charter plane service

among his clients were some of the

wealthy oil barons

in and around tulsa tulsa at this time

of course

was on an upward trajectory toward

becoming the self-described oil

capital of the world simon berry also

owned the royal hotel

one of several boutique hotels in

tulsa’s greenwood community

dr a.c jackson was a prominent black

surgeon

in the early part of the 20th century

right here in tulsa

the mayo brothers as in the mayo clinic

called him

the most able negro surgeon in america

and even in rigidly segregated tulsa

oklahoma

he had patients who were white and

patients who were black truly

remarkable we have this incredible

economic and entrepreneurial activity

going on in tulsa’s greenwood district

in the early part of the 20th century

we come to the period of the 1921 tulsa

race

massacre now there are a number of

systemic

institutional and structural issues that

that really

undergirded the massacre but i want to

tell you about the trigger incident

tulsa in 1921 was a tinderbox

a powder keg needing only some sort of

catalyst

to be thrown on these smoldering embers

that would cause the great conflagration

that was a 1921

tulsa race massacre

that trigger incident involved two

teenagers

a 19 year old black boy dick roland who

shined shoes for a living

a 17 year old white girl sarah page who

operated an elevator

in a downtown building called the drexel

building it was monday

may 30th 1921. dick roland

busy shining shoes downtown needed to

use the restroom

facilities were limited because of

segregation

but dick rowland knew of a restroom

facility

on the third floor of the downtown

drexel building

he walked over to the drexel building

entered boarded the elevator being

operated by young sarah page

something happened on that elevator we

don’t know exactly what it was

but it caused the elevator to jerk or to

lurch

dick rowland bumped into sarah page and

sarah page

began to scream the elevator landed back

in the lobby dick rowland

frightened ran from the elevator sarah

page

exited the elevator into the arms of a

clerk from a locally owned store called

renbergs

he comforted her she told him

her story about being assaulted in the

elevator

he was concerned and he called the

police now sarah page would ultimately

recant the original story

she would acknowledge to authorities

that nothing untoward happened on that

elevator

she would refuse to cooperate with

prosecutors after dick rowland was

arrested

for assault dick rowland

was taken to jail which sat atop the

courthouse

the sheriff was sheriff mccullough a

large

white mob began to gather on the lawn of

the courthouse

in part because of the reportage of a

local newspaper called the tulsa tribune

now the day after the elevator incident

the tribune this afternoon daily

newspaper published a story

entitled nab negro for attacking girl

in an elevator it was a false

narrative it was a scandalous scurrilous

tale of an attempted rape in broad

daylight

in a public building in downtown tulsa

the tribune article went out of its way

to make sarah page

who was of questionable repute virtuous

and as a corollary it made dick rowland

look villainous

and thus the large white mob that

gathered on the

lawn of the courthouse threatening to

lynch dick rowland now black men got

wind of these rumors of a lynching they

were concerned

several dozen black men some of them

world war one veterans

some of them with weapons who knew how

to use those weapons marched down to the

courthouse to protect dick rowland

they were confronted by the much larger

white mob which numbered ultimately in

the thousands

there were words exchanged between the

two groups

a white man tried to take the gun held

by a black man and the gun discharged

and in the words of one of the massacre

survivors all hell broke loose after

that

the violence of the massacre lasted

roughly 16 hours

quelled by a unit of the national guard

sent in from oklahoma city

when the dust settled some 100 to 300

people

were killed most of them black

among those who died was dr ac

jackson that prominent black surgeon i

mentioned earlier he was accosted at his

home on detroit avenue

he exited his house hands held high

in surrender but was gunned down by a

young white man

dr jackson bled to death

in addition to the fatalities hundreds

of folks

were injured at least 1 250 homes in the

black community

were destroyed a number of businesses

churches schools and a library were

destroyed

as well property damage

conservatively estimated ranged from 1.5

to 2 million

in 1921. that translates into well over

25 million dollars

today and again that’s a low ball

estimate

some black tulsans were interned in

these detention centers throughout the

city very much like people of japanese

ancestry

were interned during world war ii and

they had to have a green card

an identification card counter-signed by

a white person

to get them released from these

detention centers

many black families spent days weeks

and months living in tent cities set up

by the american red cross which by all

accounts

did a yeoman’s job in terms of providing

health care food

shelter and clothing post massacre

this narrative really though centers on

the human spirit

because what’s remarkable here is that

the black community vowed

that they would not be moved most black

tolsons

remained in place they borrowed money

and they did what they had to do to

survive

and ultimately to thrive they began

rebuilding

even as the embers still smoldered

from the massacre the black community in

tulsa economically

black wall street reaches its peak in

the early to mid 1940s with well

over 200 black owned and operated

businesses in the community

the economic fortunes of the black

community turned south

in the 60s 70s and 80s on account of

integration urban renewal and a host of

social economic and political

factors and today the community is

integrated

it’s growing it’s an amalgam of

different kinds of interests residential

commercial educational cultural

religious

and on and on it’s a community in search

of unity

and in search of a new identity a new

iteration

of black wall street i have the

privilege of serving as the education

chair

for the 1921 tulsa race massacre

centennial commission

and we’re working on that three-prong

process that i mentioned

earlier acknowledgement apology

and atonement we’re working to share

this history with the world through

documentaries through public service

announcements

we run a summer teachers institute that

teaches teachers

not only the substantive history but

pedagogy how to teach the history to

various audiences

we’re building a pathway to hope that

connects important sites in the

greenwood district

and elevates the founders of the

community the originals

of black wall street we’re building

greenwood rising

a world-class multi-million dollar

history center

that will tell this story in an

immersive experiential way

and will allow our patrons to leverage

this history

to grapple with some of the challenges

that we face around race today

black lives matter mass incarceration

educational deficits health care

disparities

and on and on and on and finally we are

working

to rekindle the black wall street

mindset that can do spirit

around economics and entrepreneurship

i want to give you a more concrete

example of that three-prong process i

mentioned earlier

acknowledgment apology and atonement the

tulsa chamber of commerce was around in

1921 it was a big player in the

community

at that time the current chamber

leadership

aware of the tendency of the 100th

anniversary of the massacre decided to

look back

to see what the chamber’s role was in

the leadership was stunned at the

various acts of omission

and commission on the part of the

chamber that really impeded progress

in the black community in the run up to

and post

massacre the ceo of the chamber mike

neal decided to host a press conference

he held at the greenwood cultural center

the leading history repository in the

community today at this press conference

he acknowledged the chamber’s

dereliction of duty back in 1921.

he donated to the greenwood cultural

center relevant portions of the 1921

chamber

minutes to preserve them for posterity

he apologized he expressed sorrow for

the actions

of the chamber back in 1921 and he moved

a step further

to atonement he talked about what the

current chamber is doing in the area of

diversity

equity and inclusion both internally as

an organization

and externally as a convener of business

interests throughout the community

he talked about initiatives and

opportunities specifically

for african-american economic progress

in tulsa

acknowledgement apology and atonement

now i know that you’re wondering what

can you do you’re just one person

but there are a number of options first

and foremost

self-awareness introspection

learn about yourself your background

your culture explore your biases

explicit and implicit there are a number

of tools available

for your use online and in your

community

join with organizations in your

community and there are many that that

center their mission on fighting bias

bigotry and racism

work with your school board member on a

more inclusive

curriculum a people’s history of the

united states

whereby the rich mosaic that really is

america

is represented and reflected in our

history books

work with your elected officials local

state federal

on some of the disparities that we know

exist across lines of race

ethnicity and culture disparities in

education

criminal justice health care employment

housing and on and on

and on and finally you can do something

as

simple as dinner and dialogue

this is an idea promoted by oklahoma

senator james lankford

invite somebody from a different racial

ethnic or cultural group

to your home your intimate space for

dinner

have dinner but also have a conversation

about something that is important to the

community something meaningful

but it’s not about the substance or or

the

the the topic of the conversation it’s

really about

the conversation itself it’s about

building

relationships because relationships are

essential to trust

and without trust there is no

reconciliation

so how do we bind the wounds of our

historical racial trauma how do we heal

our history

are often hidden history excluded from

dialogue discussion and debate excluded

from curricular materials

well we do that by tearing down the

walls that have too long divided us

walls built around ignorance and hate

and fear

and blame and shame we do it

by building the bridges that connect us

across our shared humanity thank you

you